GURDON, JOHN (1595?–1679), regicide, born about 1595, was the eldest son of Brampton Gurdon (d. 1649) of Assington, Suffolk, and Letton, Norfolk, by his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Barrett of Bell House, Essex. He succeeded to the property at Assington (Burke, Landed Gentry seventh edit. i. 798). On 26 Oct. 1640 he was elected M.P. for Ipswich, Suffolk, being returned for the county on 12 July 1654 (Lists of Members of Parliament, Official Return of, pt. i. pp. 494, 502). According to Lord Holles (Memoirs, ed. 1699), Gurdon was one of the party in the House of Commons who gave their support to the army. He was a member of the Eastern Counties Association; but on being nominated one of the commissioners of the high court of justice for the trial of the king, refused to attend. He was, however, appointed a member of the council of state on 20 Feb. 1650 (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1650, p. 5), and served on various committees (ib. Dom. 1650-2). On 28 June 1653 he was constituted one of a sub-committee on the business of draining the great level of the fens (ib. Dom. 1652-3, p. 447). At the Restoration he retired to Assington, where he died on 9 Sept. 1679, aged 84. His will, dated on 25 June 1677, was proved at London on 4 Oct. 1679 (registered in P. C. C. 129, King). By his wife Anne, daughter of Sir Calthorpe Parker of Erwarton, Suffolk, who survived him, he left five sons, Robert, Nathaniel of Woodham, Essex, Philip, Brampton, and Barrett, and three daughters, married respectively to John Gould, merchant, John Jollife, and Dr. Thomas Jacomb.